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McAdoo Fire Company completes monument

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ERIC CONOVER/Staff Photographer
Workers installed a monument at the McAdoo Community Memorial at the McAdoo Fire Company Inc. on Kennedy Drive in McAdoo.

Members of the McAdoo Fire Company Inc. are recognizing those who have made a difference in the community with a memorial dressed with monuments, flags and engravable bricks.

The McAdoo Community Memorial project has been in the works for three years, and on Friday, a large monument was added to the South Kennedy Drive site.

"What we did was create this project because we really have nothing in the center of town," said fire company president Matthew Capulich. "It is in honor of our veterans, our firefighters and our citizens who are people who have contributed so much to the community."

Capulich said a 10-member committee researched and designed the project.

Almost 3,000 red and tan bricks, or pavers, were set in the shape of a cross after concrete was poured last year. The fire company is accepting orders to have them engraved.

"We're in the process of selling them now," Capulich said, noting that 4-by-8- and 8-by-8-inch bricks are available. "Everyone seems to be supporting it."

Proceeds from the sale of bricks will offset the cost of the project and will be used for future maintenance.

"The money stays with this project itself. It doesn't go anywhere else but this project," he said.

Volunteers designed two large monuments for the fire department and McAdoo Veterans of Foreign Wars, and will hire a contractor to landscape the surrounding land. Flagpoles and lights will be installed, and a Sept. 11, 2001 memorial will be added.

"We have a piece of steel that we got from the Twin Towers," Capulich said. "It's one of the last pieces we were able to get. There isn't too much of that steel left."

Capulich said the project would not be possible without help from volunteers like Vincent Labert, who helped design the memorial and determined the amount of concrete and reinforcement needed for the brick pavers.

And while he is not on the committee, fire company member Mike Bowman helped with wiring and just about anywhere else a hand was needed.

"I think it's going to be a great beautification of the borough," said Bowman, who purchased a paver in memory of his grandfather.

Committee member Gary Perna said the project has come a long way.

"It's coming out nice. It's really shaping up," he said.

Fire department secretary Lance Borchick called the memorial an "asset" to the community.

"It's nice to honor our fallen brothers, fathers and grandfathers," he said. "It's nice for the community to just have something to remember everyone who gave to the community."

Capulich hopes to have the site dedicated before Memorial Day.

For more information on purchasing a brick, contact any fire department member.

jwhalen@standardspeaker.com

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